


Arthur's Problem

by Panatlantic



Series: 99 problems [6]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Omega Merlin (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:27:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27204530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panatlantic/pseuds/Panatlantic
Summary: Spoiler: it's Nimueh... and Merlin
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: 99 problems [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948336
Comments: 14
Kudos: 140





	Arthur's Problem

So an unmarked, unknotted omega walks into a bar and offers you money for sex, even though the Kingdom’s law forbids it, what do you do?

Arthur was only human...

So an unmarked, knotted omega walks into your castle, lies to your father the king about how he got knotted, and gets appointed as your personal servant. You wake up with said omega in your bed sucking at your toes (while naked)/drunk and plastered to your chest (naked)/ covered in honey (and naked)/skinning a rabbit (naked)/using the chamber pot (naked). What do you do?

Ah… disobeying the law when you were drunk and sulky in a tavern was not quite the same as doing it under your father’s roof (while your father was leading a search party in the corridor outside your room with half the castle guard).

The point was not that Arthur was a horny alpha and wanted to possess the only omega in the kingdom that wasn’t his father’s cast off or someone he saw as a sister. Just… he felt a duty to protect Merlin, who was clearly young, and innocent and… really needed to lay off the prunes.

Now Merlin’s life was in danger, and Uther was refusing to let Arthur get the antidote because a large poisonous (and possibly magical) chicken was guarding it. How dangerous could it be? (According to Gaius, _quite_ dangerous, which was more than _a bit_ and slightly less than _extremely_ ).

Even Morgana had come to Arthur and insisted he go get the antidote (or at least he presumed, it had involved a lot of finger pointing and declarations of Merlin’s name, before Morgana had shoved her 409th best blanket (payment for services rendered) in his arms and huffed away).

Well if father had forbidden him to take some of the men, he would just have to go alone!

* * *

“He’s saying something!” Gasped Gwen as she changed the cloth on Merlin’s forehead.

“Him. Liffrea, wuldres wealdend, woroldare forgeaf.” Muttered Merlin. Gwen was not used to Merlin being so verbose so it quite startled her.

“What language is that?” She asked Gaius.

“None.“ Lied Gaius as Merlin cast spells. Thankfully his eyes were firmly closed or the magic would have been revealed. “The poison has sent him into a partial heat making him chatty. They’re just nonsense words.”

“Penis!” Declared Merlin loudly, startling awake in a temporarily lucid moment and ripping off his shirt before collapsing back down.

“Mostly nonsense words.” Continued Gaius. “His body is attempting to metabolize the poison, but I fear it will only speed it up.” Gaius examined Merlin’s chest and arms finding a large, circular rash.

_“_ What is it?” Asked Gwen.

“According to the book, once a rash appears, death will follow within two days."

“But… you said he had four days!”

“I can only presume an enchantment was used during the flower’s preparation.“

“An enchantment? But Bayard's no sorcerer. Who did this?” Demanded Gwen.

“It can't have been. She wouldn't dare come here. Unless... What happened to that girl?”

“Cara?” Asked Gwen without preamble. “No one has seen her since the banquet. Who is she?”

“Not who she claims to be.” Muttered Gaius cryptically.

“But you know, don't you?” Pressed Gwen.

“Cara. Though, that's not her name. Not her real name, anyway. A powerful sorceress.”

“Well, we should tell Uther. Maybe he could send riders out after her.”

”No, she'll be long gone. It's impossible to know where, though. Oh, no.”

“What?”

“She knows the only place an antidote can be found is the Forest of Balor. Arthur could be walking into a trap.”

* * *

“I expressly ordered Arthur not to go!” Whined Uther. Now he couldn’t ride out (with a suitable armed escort) and get the antidote and save Merlin and accept his profuse and full body thanks.

Morgana snorted.

“Not another word!” Ordered Uther.

Morgana huffed.

“I should've put him under lock and key!”

Morgana snorted (again).

“Just you watch me! I will not be disobeyed! Especially by my own son!”

Morgana huffed (again).

_“_ You knew about this, didn't you? Morgana...don't lie to me.”

Morgana rolled her eyes. Clearly Uther needed a little something in his wine to calm his nerves. Hemlock should do nicely.

* * *

Well. It turned out a cockatrice was just a big, flying lizard-thing. Arthur couldn’t help but think Merlin would be disappointed because it did not look at all like a chicken as the name would suggest (then again, Merlin had thought the Afanc had looked tasty, so perhaps Arthur was underestimating him).

“It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you.” Arthur called to the omega cowering in the forest. It did not occur to him to wonder why an omega was alone in the forest of Balor to begin with, after all, omega did what omega did, it wasn’t the place of an alpha to wonder.

“Lost.” Cried Nimueh. She didn’t have to pretend to be sad since she had just seen her favorite cockatrice impaled. Alpha. So quick to kill anything that tried to eviscerate and/or poison them.

“I can take you to safety, but there's something I have to do first.” He gestured to the cave.

“Flower?” Asked Nimueh.

“Yes! The Mortaeus flower that only grows inside the cave. It's very rare.”

“Show!” Stated Nimueh, leading Arthur into the cave.

* * *

“…trap…trap…” Muttered Merlin.

“His fever's getting worse, isn't it?” Asked Gwen.

“The poison's setting in.” Stated Gaius.

“eft gewunigen wilgesiþas, þonne wig cume” Muttered Merlin.

“Merlin, you must fight it!” Begged Gaius.

* * *

“There.” Nimueh pointed at the flowers, which were unfortunately across a large gap with a narrow ledge and long drop.

“Keep back from the edge. Don't worry. We'll be out of here soon.” He instructed.

“Eorthe, lyft, fyr, waeter, hiersumie me.” Mumbled Nimueh. “Eorthe ac stanas hiersumie me. Ic can stanas tobrytan...” Which was oddly verbose for an omega outside of a heat.

“What are you doing?!” He demanded.

“...hiersumie me.” Finished Nimueh, the spell causing the cave to shake and the ground to drop out from under Arthur. In desperation he flung the torch aside and jumped across to the ledge.

“Who are you?!” Demanded Arthur.

“Face!” Cackled Nimueh. Which made no sense to Arthur in the slightest. Not that he had time to process it since a giant spider had appeared. Arthur quickly slashed at it with his sword and it fell away.

“Friends!” Cackled Nimueh as the sounds of more spiders started scuttling towards Arthur. She left the cave, taking her torch with her and plunging Arthur into darkness.

* * *

“Arthur. It's too dark. Too dark. Fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme. Fromum feohgiftum.” Chanted Merlin. Luckily he had sent Gwen away to inform Uther of the enchantment, so she was not there to witness Merlin conjure the ball of light.

“Merlin… what are you doing…?” he whispered.

* * *

“Come on, then! What are you waiting for?! Finish me off!” Arthur yelled at the spiders…. or maybe Nimueh… hard to tell.

When the light appeared he was finally able to see the ledge above him and pull himself up. Seeing the Mortaeus flower growing on the cave wall he grabbed a handful, stuffing them into his pouch before following the light to climb the cave wall. Finally making it to the top, the light disappeared and Arthur was free.

* * *

“You disobeyed me.” Growled Uther through the bars of the cell.

“Of course I did, a man's life was at stake. Do not let Merlin die because of something I did.”

“Why do you care so much? The omega is just a servant.”

“He knew the danger he was putting himself in, and he knew what would happen if he drank from that goblet, but he did it anyway. He saved my life. There's more. There was a woman at the mountain. She knew I was there for the flower. I don't think it was Bayard who tried to poison me.”

“Of course it was.” Denied Uther. “Now hand over the flower. I’ll see Gaius gets it. We won’t speak of where it came from.”

“Put me in the stocks for a week, a month even, I don't care. Just make sure it gets to him.” Begged Arthur.

* * *

The situation was not unsalvageable.

Of course he had been concerned Arthur had formed an attachment to his omega, but by his own admission Arthur would have probably done the same for any servant that had saved his life.

Now Uther just had to make his dramatic appearance with the antidote and receive his grateful due. He eagerly hustled down the corridor to the physicians chamber, panting from the exercise when Morgana appeared.

“Wine?” She offered.

* * *

“I didn’t think Uther was letting anyone see Arthur, how did you get this?” Gaius asked.

“I… have my ways.” Stated Gwen, unsure if it was treasonous to admit she had left the King, mouth foaming in the hallway with Morgana kicking at his prone form.

“His breathing's gotten much worse. We have to hurry.” Gaius proceeded to crush the flower, before stopping in his preparations. “The poison was created using magic. We may need magic to make an antidote.”

“But we can't. It's forbidden, even if we could.”

“I'll try and make it work without it. Oh, I need some fresh water.” He handed her the bucket and sent her to fill it. As soon as she’d left the room he started to whisper the spell over the bowl. “Sythan arrest wearth feasceaft funden. Denum æfter dome. Dreamleas gebad he gewinnes longsum.” The potion sizzled and foamed for a moment before Gwen returned with the water. If he didn’t touch the bucket, Gwen didn’t notice, worried for Merlin as she was. “Wave the chicken leg over his nose.” Instructed Gaius.

When Merlin opened his mouth, Gaius poured the concoction in. “Swallow, Merlin. Swallow it.” He begged.

“He's stopped breathing!” Panicked Gwen. “What's happening? Gaius?”

Gaius put his head to Merlin’s chest. “His heart has stopped.”

“He's dead?” She cried.

“He can't be. He can't be. It was his destiny.” Denied Gaius.

“It's my fault. If I'd have got here sooner.... If I'd have been quicker...” Gwen sobbed, hugging Gaius in her grief.

“No, no. It was me. I should've looked after him better. It's my fault…” Moaned Gaius.

“That's disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself. You're old enough to be her grandfather.” Muttered Merlin.

“Merlin! You're alive!” Exclaimed Gwen, confounded once again by Merlin being both tetchy and able to form coherent sentences in his heat-haze.

“No. I'm his ghost come back to haunt you all. Presumably because I died of starvation.” He stated scratching irritably at his neck and wrists. “Now what does an omega need to do to get some damn dick around here?”

* * *

In the end, Gwen and Gaius had had to sedate Merlin and confine him to Arthurs chambers (Arthur was still in the dungeons so he would hardly be using them, and as Merlin had decided to yell from the ramparts that he was in heat and had 4 pence for the first Alpha to fuck him into the mattress, Gwen and Gaius decided it would be better to move to another location).

With Uther in a poison induced coma and Arthur confined, the kingdom was running surprisingly smoothly (more smoothly than normal even... betas were so competent). Bayard was packed up and sent home (without any omega – a fact that he protested loudly all the way to the border) to avoid an imminent attack with Mercia and in recognition of the magical nature of the poison that had been used.

* * *

“Still alive, then?” Smirked Arthur when Merlin was finally considered decent enough to leave his room. George had found the duties of tending to an irritable omega no more taxing than dealing with Uther or Arthur and taken it in stride (George was a model servant and would never take advantage of his master in an inebriated state, regardless of how much they begged him to ‘just get in there’. All the kissing had been terribly novel though).

“…yeah…” Muttered Merlin, the heat having fully dissipated a day after he received the antidote (of course it had taken another three days to evict him from Arthurs chambers and then another two to replace the mattress, hence why Arthur was still in the dungeon a week later).

“Yeah, well, I hope you enjoyed your holiday. I expect you to be back to work tomorrow.

“… early….” Warned Merlin with a cackle (he had gotten used to George bringing him meals in bed and was eager to reestablish the routine).


End file.
